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Dalmatian Molly attacking Neon Tetras

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I have a 20 gallon tank with a Marineland 150 Biowheel filter and both live (Amazon Broad & Anarcharis) and artificial decoration that has been set up for about 2 months and has finished cycling. The tank currently has:

About 72 hours ago, I had 5 Neon Tetras. Over the course of the next 24-36 hours, two of them turned up dead, but I didn't know why. Then, last night, I saw a female Dalmatian Molly attacking and killing one of the Neon Tetras (it wasn't very fun to watch, but I couldn't do anything to help him and didn't have a QT tank). I've noticed that this same Molly has also been very aggressive towards another female in the tank. I was careful in selecting my fish to make sure they were likely to get along and was sure the schooling Neons, while smaller, would do well with the communal livebearing Mollies and Platies.

Can anyone tell me why the female Molly (and yes, I'm certain she is a female) is attacking my Tetras and other Mollies? Is it some sort of mating thing? If I removed the male from the tank, would it make a difference? Was I wrong about the compatibility of Neon Tetras and Mollies?

I'm not entirely sure, I suck at stocking advice, but 20gal might be a little small for a molly group that size, maybe she is taking out some aggression on the little ones. Other than that I have come across a couple really aggressive female mollies before, I just traded them in for a different female and the problem was solved. But maybe someone else will know the root of the problem.

I'm not familiar with the temperament of mollies but if you have the ability to remove it or return it to save the rest of your neons that would be the best - replace it with more neons because they do best in larger groups - that's my advice - perhaps someone else will suggest something else.

BTW, until you actually put fish together in the same tank, you never know whether one species or sex might be an aggressor towards others & you need a game plan if one fish decides to fight others.

Great advice above. Overall you have to consider that each fish is an individual and has his/her own quirks... Their personalities can't be changed and we just have to respect that. I think rehoming her and getting more neons is a great idea.

starting over, sort of...

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Thanks everyone for the replies and advice. Sorry for the delay in responding, but it's been a tough couple of weeks in the Tarheelfish world. We found a new home for the murderous Molly, followed shortly by our first Ich invasion and losing the last two remaining neon tetras (cause of death: unknown). And to top it all off, I can't seem to keep Anacharis alive for anything, and if you've ever grown that in a tank you know what a mess it can make when pieces start coming off everywhere. And I've also been invaded by a yet to be determined species of snail--so far I've seen two of the little buggers roaming around.

The Ich seems to be under control so after a few more days we're debating what to add to our 3 platies and 3 dalmatian mollies. Maybe some tetras, maybe some Cory Cats? We'll see!

If this were my tank, I'd go with some cories - you already have fish taking up the midsection of the tank and 6-7 cories would be nice for the bottom - if you added tetras (which need a school) I think the tank would look too full.

Snails usually come in with plants.

Ich being "under control" doesn't mean it's gone yet - I had that for a while and I waited a very long time before adding new fish (by then I acquired a QT &all new fish go into it) - didn't want to take any chances.